It's been slower than I wanted it to be but we are making progress. The car runs. It almost surprisingly came to life easier than we thought after 20 years of sleep. Valves were a bit loud but we are hoping it will quiet shortly. If not, I guess I'll have to look at the lifters. Nice thing about having a friend who is an engine builder. Hope that doesn't happen. The first aluminum rad I bought didn't fit as it should have and it got returned. Sometimes you have to be dubious on aftermarket listings and this is a perfect example of why. The second fit but I had to do a bit of grinding, not much though, on the crossmember on the passenger side to make the 3 core fit and then it fit well. New hoses also. Vacuum lines were being replaced as they looked original and were toasty. Ran out of tubing and had to get more so that will be finished shortly along with new heater hoses. The transmission lines leaked when it got running so new nickel/copper ones going in. That's the way to go as they bend so much easier than steel without kinking or having to use a bending tool and last much longer even though they are much more expensive. The torque boxes were patched and poorly so this weekend, the guy who does welding for the shop is putting in new ones with good steel. He's not charging me much as it is being done for the shop so I'm looking forward to it being done correctly. My welding skills aren't expert so farming it out was the thing to do. The unibody metal around them is still very good so this won't be a huge job. Already have the tune up parts installed along with a water pump. The old one looked really bad. Unless anything unseen crops up and if I don't have to rebuild the carb right away which I do anticipate needing to do at some point, brakes will be gone over completely even though they do work and seem to be ok as they are. Have all the parts ready to go. That needs done regardless. Once it is home, I'll be replacing the tires. At that point, it'll be leaving the shop for home to start cosmetic stuff and ultimately the three rust spots. It's insured as of today and registered for the first time in 20 years. Here, you can resurrect an old license plate from the year of the car if it is 1976 or older and I got one and had it registered. The car is legally ready for road. It was registered as an antique also so it's exempt from state inspections. Cost me more but was worth doing. So, that's where we are right now.
Good luck though any carb that's set for 20 years should be rebuilt. Rarely did they last more than 8-10 years when in use.
